Chris Withrow Optioned Out

Chris Withrow was optioned down to AAA Albuquerque to make room for Hyun-Jin Ryu, who came off the Disabled List. Paul Maholm was sent to the bullpen to take Withrow's place. Withrow pitched in 20 games, 21 1/3 innings, and gave up 7 earned runs for a 2.95 ERA. He had one bad outing within the past week in which he gave up 5 runs but I believe the biggest reasons that he was sent down was the fact that he had options left and to work on his control. He issued 18 walks in those 21 1/3 innings. He was one of the least deserving of some of the other relievers of being optioned out but it was about the only move the Dodgers could make. Plus the Dodgers needed another lefty besides J.P. Howell in the bullpen.

Making The Hits Count

The Dodgers only had 4 hits against the New York Mets in their 4-3 win win last night but three of them were solo homeruns- Gonzalez (12), Puig (10), and Hanley Ramirez (7)- and Ramirez drove in the Dodgers other run. Hyun-Jin Ryu came off the Disabled List and pitched 6 innings, giving up 2 runs, striki9ng out 9 and only walking 1. He improved to 4-2 on the season and his return couldn't have come at a better time. The Dodgers held on for the victory in spite of Kenley Jansen giving up a 9th inning run but he did earn his 13th save. Brandon League and Brian Wilson pitched scoreless innings a piece and Brian Wilson may be getting back into the pitching groove he had at the end of last year when he helped propel the Dodgers into the playoffs. League lowered his ERA to 1.35.

New York, New York

To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, the Dodgers have been spreading something but it hasn't been the news. Last night the Dodgers held on to beat the New York Mets 9-4 as they built up a big lead (6-1), almost lost it (6-4), and then finished it off with a three run ninth inning (9-4). They didn't give their bullpen a chance to lose the game. Josh Beckett got the win (2-1) in spite of giving up two homeruns in the bottom of the sixth inning. He pitched 5 innings and gave up 4 earned runs and handed it off to the bullpen. Howell, Withrow, Wilson, and Jansen combined to pitch four innings of scoreless baseball. The Dodgers offense came through in the clutch as they had 15 hits and eight different Dodgers drove in runs. Adrian Gonzalez had three hits including his 11th homerun and drove in two. That puts the Dodgers at 24-22 on the season and luckily no one is running away with the National League West right now. They are 4 games behind the San Francisco Giants and are in third place.

Raising Arizona

I had to take the title of this blog from the movie of the same name but it was the best I could do. The Dodgers improved to 8-1 on the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 7-0 win last night and are a perfect 4-0 against them at Chase Field AKA "the old swimmin' hole". Zach Greinke continued his Cy Young type of start to the season by pitching 8 scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks, striking out 6, and giving up only 5 singles. Greinke improved to 7-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.03. Last year's Silver Slugger also had two hits and doubled in a run. Maybe the Kansas City Royals should have let him hit when he pitched there? Greinke has also only allowed 2 or fewer runs in 21 straight starts, the longest such streak since at least 1914 for all you stat geeks (such as myself) out there. Yasiel Puig extended his hitting streak to a career best 15 games with 3 hits including his 8th homerun. Scott Van Slyke continued to use Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley as his personal batting practice pitcher by hitting his 4th homerun (3 against Miley) and he is 6 for 9 against him on the season, and all 6 hits are for extra bases.

Taking One For The Team

All teams get the occasional beat down and last night the Dodgers were no exception in a 13-3 loss to the Marlins. Bob Uecker referred to in his book The Catcher In The Wry as "taking one for the team" and last night Paul Maholm did just that. He was left in longer than he should have to try to preserve a beat up bullpen. Maholm went 3 2/3 innings and gave up 10 runs but only 5 were earned. Chris Perez and Brian Wilson came in and poured some gasoline on the fire (Perez 1/3 of an inning 2 earned runs and Wilson 1 ininning and 1 earned run although Wilson did lower his ERA to 10.22). Drew Butera added to his impressive backup credentials by pitching a scoreless 9th inning and even struck out a batter. The only offensive highlight of the night for the Dodgers was that Yasiel Puig extended his hitting streak to 14 games and knocked in his team leading 31st run.

Drew Butera

Who would have thought that Drew Butera would have emerged from the scrap heap of backup Catchers in Spring Training to hold down the fort until A.J. Ellis came back from the Disabled List? Tim Federowicz struggled at the plate and Drew Butera stepped up with Miguel Olivo as his backup. Butera has already tied his season homerun high with 2 including an extra inning game winner a couple of weeks ago and it looks like he has won the backup job for the rest of the season. Several Catchers in major league history have made nice careers out of being backup catchers with the most famous of those being Bob Uecker.

Beckett's First Win

Josh Beckett got his first win of the season last night (1-1) over one of his old teams the Miami Marlins 7-1. He went 6 1/3 innings, giving up one unearned run, struck out 6 and walked 3. He dropped his overall ERA to 2.38. The Dodgers broke the game open with 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th. Hanley Ramirez started the scoring with a two-run double, Yasiel Puig had two hits and an RBI and improved his average to .326, and Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford also had two hits a piece. Manager Don Mattingly noted Puig's sudden consistency at the plate by saying in a postgame interview "he's growing up before our very eyes." Puig has a career high 13 game hitting streak and leads the team with 30 RBI's. His mother even threw out the first pitch last night on "Yasiel Puig bobblehead night."